Evolution Points, Let Me See Your Limits!

The guides on the Secret Forum, along with the tragic experiences of countless players, all made one thing clear: the Eternal Continent was dangerous.

Venturing out and fighting for their lives might get them killed faster, but hiding in their own territories forever wasn't safe either.

Half a day, a day, two days—the newly born territories would eventually be discovered by wild monsters, followed by endless harassment and invasions.

Mu Yuan knew that his dilapidated village would be invaded sooner or later, but...

Couldn't it happen a little later?

His Evolution Points had already accumulated to 0.88. He was just a little short! Damn it!

He was worried that his skeletons with the Appearance of an Emperor might all be wiped out before they could grow. Unfortunately, worrying wouldn't help. The enemy army would arrive on the battlefield in thirty seconds, and he had no choice but to face them.

"Stay alert!"

He issued the order to all the Little Skeletons, then looked over them one by one. Sure enough, several stupid-looking skeletons were waving their Chopping Knives, eager to charge out of the village and fight the invaders to the death.

Mu Yuan hurriedly dragged them back with a sweep of his mouse.

He had clearly taught them this before! Damn it!

The Little Skeleton tilted its skull, bewilderment and confusion flickering in its empty eye sockets.

Mu Yuan: "..."

Forget it, forget it. It was all within his expectations.

There were quite a few places to hide in the dilapidated village. However, expecting these skeletons to ambush the enemy from the shadows and land a fatal blow was unrealistic.

After all, the only commands he could directly issue were the few options of "move," "attack," and "defend." Every other action depended heavily on the troop type's own comprehension.

The Door Panel Skeleton—the Little Skeleton with intelligence far surpassing its companions and the Appearance of an Emperor—stood before the trapped area, holding a knife in one hand and a door shield in the other.

Not bad. It had quite a knack for understanding things!

Mu Yuan made a simple battle formation and also controlled his own character to hide in a concealed spot.

There was nothing shameful about surviving by playing it safe.

At that moment, the wolf pack had entered the village. Their savage eyes swept around constantly before soon settling on the most conspicuous Door Panel Skeleton.

"Thirteen Gray Wolves. This doesn't look good..."

Mu Yuan's expression grew solemn.

"Gray Wolf (Common Star): A common wild beast at the very bottom of the food chain on the Eternal Continent."

Admittedly, these Gray Wolves looked malnourished, and judging from the description, they were trash-tier creatures. But... his Little Skeletons were also merely bottom-tier cannon-fodder troops, and they were at a numerical disadvantage.

This battle would be extremely difficult.

With their numerical advantage, the Gray Wolves' ferocity erupted. They quickly changed from a slow walk into a sprinting pounce.

They were coming!

They had fallen into the trap!

The pit collapsed. One Gray Wolf fell inside, its flesh pierced by sharpened wooden stakes as blood slowly flowed out. The other Gray Wolves were quick enough to turn and avoid the pit. The occasional one that failed to brake in time and fell in would leap out by stepping on the body of the Gray Wolf below, making the trapped wolf yelp miserably.

The other crude traps were only slightly effective as well. Before long, the Gray Wolves and Little Skeletons were locked in close combat.

The Gray Wolves had sharp claws and teeth and moved nimbly. In an open area, they could probably suppress the Little Skeletons with their speed advantage. Fortunately, the village's terrain was complicated. Mu Yuan had already positioned the Little Skeletons in various "slots," with their backs against trees or buildings, allowing them to face the Gray Wolves with the advantage of terrain.

The two sides soon fell into a bloody melee. The scene could only be described as...

A battle between two groups of inept fighters.

The Little Skeletons' combat was utterly without form. They simply swung their rust-covered Chopping Knives wildly. But the wild Gray Wolves weren't much smarter. They pounced onto the skeletons and bit down hard on their bones. Even if they broke one or two ribs, it had no effect on the pain-insensitive skeletons, which simply turned around and brought their knives down.

The wild wolves were hacked until blood flowed freely, their bodies torn open with savage wounds.

But it still wasn't enough.

Even though the Little Skeletons had gained a slight advantage by exchanging injuries, their bodies continued to suffer damage. Moreover, the Gray Wolves had the numbers. If this continued, casualties were inevitable.

These were his tireless production machines! How could Mu Yuan bear to lose them?!

"We have to concentrate our firepower and kill part of the Gray Wolves first."

At that moment, the Door Panel Skeleton looked extremely mighty. Wielding its enormous door panel and relying on the fortifications, it managed to hold back four Gray Wolves by itself, even beating them until they grew fearful.

Not bad.

But Mu Yuan didn't send the other skeletons in to support it. Instead, he looked toward the other battlefields, where the Little Skeletons were fighting the Gray Wolves in groups of three or four, locked in stalemates.

"Battles should be fought by outnumbering the few and using strength against weakness. Only by concentrating our firepower and breaking through one point can our advantage snowball."

Mu Yuan began micromanaging.

There wasn't much he could do, but he could order the Little Skeletons to constantly switch battlefields.

A Little Skeleton with high aggro entered defensive mode, braced its back against an obstacle, and continued absorbing attacks. Mu Yuan quickly formed the three or four Little Skeletons he pulled away into a squad, then sent them charging at the nearest Gray Wolf.

Their blades hacked down in a chaotic flurry. The first unfortunate wolf soon let out a whimper and collapsed in a bloody mess.

Then came the second and third.

At the same time, more skeleton forces were freed up. Mu Yuan controlled them and quickly sent them toward the next battlefield.

His eyes kept shifting as his fingers tapped away, rapidly switching between shortcut commands. Sometimes he formed squads; sometimes he pulled out one or two Little Skeletons to reinforce companions who were about to collapse.

Before long, more than half the Gray Wolf Pack had been killed. Meanwhile, apart from two of his skeletons having crippled legs, none of his own had fallen.

They had completely seized the advantage!

But to Mu Yuan's astonishment, despite their overwhelming disadvantage, the Gray Wolves still showed no intention of fleeing with their tails between their legs. Their eyes grew increasingly bloodshot, radiating a savage, reckless aura.

They really didn't care about dying.

One Gray Wolf threw itself at the Door Panel Skeleton as if willing to sacrifice its life. Its icy claws raked down viciously, and the broad, sturdy door panel, which had already endured countless attacks, shattered with a bang.

The Door Panel Skeleton froze as well. It did possess some intelligence, but the current situation exceeded the processing capacity of its CPU. When the Gray Wolf pounced, it simply grabbed its Chopping Knife and charged forward.

It was incredibly brave!

But... that was far too reckless.

As it turned out, setting intelligence aside, it was still only at the level of an ordinary Little Skeleton. It was nowhere near capable of fighting four enemies at once. It was quickly knocked to the ground by the Gray Wolves, who began tearing into it.

Danger!

By the time Mu Yuan promptly dispatched the other skeletons to reinforce it, the Door Panel Skeleton had already had part of its arm bitten off. If the Gray Wolves hadn't been too stupid to attack its head, this slightly intelligent skeleton would already have been dead.

"You have to play it safe! Staying alive is what lets you deal damage, understand?!"

"When dealing with enemies, we don't need to concern ourselves with martial virtue. We have to learn to use every resource available. If we need to dig pits, we dig pits. If we need to scatter lime, we scatter lime. If we need to gang up on them, we gang up on them. Only the one who survives to the end is the victor!"

This was his top general!

If the Door Panel Skeleton had played it a little safer, then even if its door panel had been torn apart, it wouldn't have fallen into a life-or-death crisis within a few seconds.

Regardless of whether the skeleton understood him, Mu Yuan began lecturing it nonstop. He went from the Way of Playing It Safe to being an old schemer, from the basics of caution to digging pits and burying enemies alive. Only after taking a drink of water did he finally stop.

On the Eternal Continent, after seeing the lord leave to inspect the territory, the Door Panel Little Skeleton thoughtfully scratched at its skull, a glow of wisdom flickering in its eyes.

Compared to the initial encounters of most players on the forum, Mu Yuan's battle had been more dangerous. He had faced an attack by thirteen Gray Wolves all at once.

But he had achieved excellent results.

Every Little Skeleton had survived.

This was thanks to the early preparations and the Door Panel Skeleton's bravery. Of course, it was even more thanks to his micromanagement and commands.

If the Little Skeletons had merely fought the Gray Wolves in a chaotic melee on their own, then even if they won, few of them would have survived.

However, most of the Little Skeletons were seriously injured. Some were already "critically wounded," with their heads nearly falling off.

"Don't panic. As long as you're not dead, it's fine."

"Injured troops can slowly recover with Soul Sand. And Soul Sand..."

Of the thirteen dead Gray Wolves, nine gave off a faint glow.

Mu Yuan controlled his own character and walked forward under the protection of two fully combat-capable Little Skeletons, picking them up one by one.

"Obtained 1.5g of Soul Sand."

"Obtained 0.8g of Soul Sand."

"Obtained 1.1g of Soul Sand."

"Obtained..."

One crystal after another appeared, resembling grains of sand and shimmering with a magnificent luster.

Mu Yuan distributed the Soul Sand among the injured skeletons. Using it seemed to be an instinct of the troops, something he couldn't teach them even if he tried.

Mu Yuan could only urge them to recover as quickly as possible.

"Low-level troops recover relatively quickly, but it still takes at least several hours. Those with severe injuries will need half a day or even a full day."

"To shorten this time, you'd need troops with healing abilities. But such troops are even rarer and harder to find."

"During this recovery period, a player's combat strength drops considerably, making things even more dangerous if monsters attack. What's more, some players lose troops in battle. That's a permanent loss."

"If the gains are less than the losses, the player will begin to decline, falling into a vicious cycle until they are destroyed."

In this battle, they had defeated quite a few Gray Wolves, and the rewards weren't low either.

After subtracting the amount needed for recovery, Mu Yuan estimated that the remaining Soul Sand would be enough to raise one or two Level 2 skeletons.

Some players on the forum had raised their Little Skeletons to Level 2. Their movements were clearly less stiff, their physiques had grown slightly, and their bones had become more lustrous. Their combat strength had also increased noticeably.

Clearly, even Little Skeletons could possess impressive combat strength as long as they continued leveling up.

But absorbing Soul Sand to level up also took time.

What he lacked most right now was time. Why not...

"Evolution Points, let me see your limits!"